Andrea’s Comments (group member since Sep 13, 2012)

Andrea’s comments from the Aussie Readers group.

☼♄Jülie wrote: "Lol...I like to think there is always room for improvement. I must confess I haven't read EPL ... It seems to have got mixed reviews, though mostly negative. Still, I think the book I might have wr..."

That's right. Also, there's a big difference between memoir and fiction (thankfully, in this case).

Lisa - (Aussie Girl) wrote: I was totally surprised how affected Marieke was with Elizabeth Gilbert. ..."

I was surprised too - didn't think Marieke would be like that. But on the other hand I totally understand as I developed an author-crush on Elizabeth Gilbert myself after seeing Jennifer Byrne interviewing her one-on-one, then reading The Signature of All Things. EPL bored me senseless.

Michael wrote: "i will only be checking out the odd author each day ..."

How do you know which ones are odd? Are they marked with an asterisk in the program? ;-)

Sounds like you've done well so far, despite the uninspiring lineup.

Phrynne wrote: "I might kick off with my tribute to Colleen McCullough Tim"

It's the only McCullough I have read before. I loved it at the time - will be interesting to hear what you make of it Phrynne.

Meanwhile, I have made a start with Addition (debut - Toni Jordan). I'm enjoying it so far and think it will be a pretty quick read.

Started reading Addition this morning for the March challenge. Is it possible that Grace Vandenberg is the original Don Tillman?!?

I've just finished reading Brother of the More Famous Jack, which I believe has been selected by Elizabeth Gilbert for the March Book Club. I loved it! I'm a bit mean with my stars and gave it 4. (Marieke will probably say it was a load of tosh.)

I doubt that I will make it through all four, but mine are:

Debut: Addition by Toni Jordan
New: Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke
Tribute: The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough
Male: Bereft by Chris Womersley

Michael wrote: "Picked these ones up earlier today from Target with my fast diminishing birthday dosh.
"

I've had my eye on The Boston Girl too.

This morning I've started reading Brother of the More Famous Jack, which I should be able to finish in time for ABC Bookclub on 1 March.

Jen wrote: "Just starting The Visitors by Sally Beauman - has anyone read it? How was it?"

It was nominated by RitaSkeeter as one of their top 5 of 2014, and as a result of that I've included it in my personal challenge for this year. So it has at least one big fan so far - maybe a couple more on the way?

I haven't read any, but do have 3 of them queued up on my Kindle. Better get reading.

It always gives me a mental image of the person being pummelled with a meat tenderiser, for some reason (pressurised, tenderised, whatever).

Does anyone else have a particular word that really irritates them when they see it in writing? I do! The word is 'pressurised', used in the context of 'she was feeling pressurised'. Sheila O'Flanagan loves it, judging by how frequently she uses it. I'm reading Paul Torday at the moment, and he slipped one in too. Could it be UK thing? What's wrong with 'pressured'?

Phrynne wrote: "I couldn't get into Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake. The main character was so truly awful I could not bear to read about him."

That reminds me, a brief book that felt eternal due to a thoroughly despicable main character was David Golder by Irène Némirovsky. Just awful.

Ryan wrote: "If I gave up on every book that didn't excite me from the start I would probably never get to read any of the classics."

Ditto, but you can also substitute 'school reading curriculum' for 'classics'. In a way it's good that you don't get much choice with the school ones, because in the end, the curriculum gave me a small handful of some of my favourite books of all time.

I have to duck my head as I admit that mine was Pride and Prejudice. It was not my first Jane Austen, and I was very familiar with the story from screen adaptations (in a good way), but the actual novel just couldn't maintain my interest. I think it took 3-4 years for me to finish after a determined push at the end. One I'm unlikely to revisit.

Noticed a bit of internet chatter about a mini-series version of The Casual Vacancy, being screened in the UK this month. I still haven't read it, but maybe I will do that before it lands on my TV.

Sally906 wrote: "There is also:

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

And

The Other Hand

Both exactly the sa..."

Oh yes ! The trouble I had trying to shelve that one...

Just realised last night:



and



are the same book by Nikki Gemmell.

I'm quite interested to read Brother of the More Famous Jack: A Novel - hope I can fit it in before the show.